A Hero's True Color
by RippledWaterx3
Summary: She always thought that yellow was his color. After all, he was the Yellow Flash. But the last time she saw him, her thought completely changed...


**A Hero's True Color**

**By Larien**

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**Summary: **She always thought that yellow was his color. After all, he was the Yellow Flash. But the last time she saw him, her thought completely changed...

**Notes: **Forgive me if this fic seems completely random to you. It came to mind at 6am in the morning while humming a song by S Club in the shower...(the song was 'The Color of Blue')...this plotbunnie wouldn't leave me alone for the rest of the day after that...it's quite short actually. Hope it isn't too bad. Hmm...the ending could've been better. Meh. It's pretty good as it is. Criticism and Reviews appreciated. Flames are used to feed Sasuke's Grand Fireball Jutsu and Kakashi's Chidori.

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She always though the resembled yellow. Ever since they first met. He seemed like yellow. Always happy and bright. She rarely saw him sad or downcast, except for when he talked about his comrades who had died in battle. But even then, he only had a far away look in his eyes, he never frowned at her.

He **did** frown at his team though. Team Yellow Flash. She had seen them only a couple of times when he treated them for ramen and she sat with him at Irachiku. Hatake Kakashi. Uchiha Obito. Rin. He frowned when he scolded them and mockingly wagged his finger. She could always see that he was stifling a smile.

He called her his sunshine. He argued with her. Saying that _she_ was the color yellow and he was something else. She was supposed to be yellow because she was his sunshine. She occasionally bugged him about what color he was, but only a smile played at his lips and he remained silent.

When they got married, he insisted that they stick lots of sunflowers at their wedding because after all, she was his sunshine. She wanted roses because well, roses are romantic. In the end, he won. They were married amid many sunflowers and other bright yellow blossoms.

After that, she always asked him **once** a day what color he was. He was being just too stubborn for her. He never answered.

He _did_ insist however, that they keep a vase of flowers in their home. He brought back flowers every week from the Yamakawa Flower Shop. They were always yellow. Buttercups, yellow roses, sun flowers, petunias, orchids. Whatever he thought fitting for her that week. Ocassionally, somehow, a blue flower slipped in there. He always insisted that Inoshi had made a mistake, she thought other wise. Could he be hinting at something?

Two months after they married, she became pregnant. He yelped in surprise then whooped in joy when she told him. He had spun her around that night and he had taken the **whole** day off hokage duty just to be with her also.

When she was into her fourth month, he came home one day carrying roses. That's right. **ROSES**. And they were a deep red. Not yellow. Red. Something was up. He denied it saying that the roses were 'just because' and that they were a sign of his affection.

She was correct. Later over dinner, he sheepishly confessed that he was wondering if they could name their child 'Naruto'. When she agreed, he had kissed her like no tomorrow. The taste of soba lingered on her lips for hours. She never knew that it was _that_ important to name the child 'Naruto'. But then she had wondered aloud to him...what if the child was a girl? He just smiled an all knowing hokage smile and said that he was sure that it was going to be a boy. She argued that her mother's intuition told her it was going to be a girl. He said hokage intuition told him the child was a boy and that hokage intuition was more correct than mother's intuition. She scoffed and told him to wait and see. He nodded. He also told her that Naruto's color would be orange. Just for some reason, it would be orange. Unique like Naruto, he said.

During her last month, she had an odd obsession with the color blue...and his blue jounin shirt. His lips curled into smiles when he saw her asleep, hugging the faded and worn shirt to herself. She was beginning to understand, he thought as he went back to work. Konoha was in the midst of war. He was rarely home anymore.

The day she went into labor was the biggest and most hard fought day of the war. Kyuubi attacked. Neighboring Sunakagure had warned them earlier that week that Kyuubi was heading their direction but the people and elders of Konoha hoped that distance would keep Kyuubi away. They were wrong. Kyuubi still came. Many shinobi's lives were lost that day. Finally, ANBU nor any of the special jounin could sustain Kyuubi any longer. They needed him. But he needed to go see his wife. He asked for ten minutes. He was given ten minutes after he explained the situation to Sandaime for the fifth time. He poofed away in no time.

When he got to the hospital, his son was already born. He had even brighter blonde hair than Yondaime himself if possible and the brightest blue eyes ever. He did his best to clean himself up before entering the room. He knew he was full of scrapes, bruises, and cuts and that his clothes were torn. He guessed that he didn't do that well of a job because his wife fussed more over him then he fussed over his wife and the baby. She told him that the child was already named Naruto.

He realized that his ten minutes were about up. He kissed his wife and his son and left back to the battlefield, promising he would come back.

He fought long and hard with his toad summons against Kyuubi. In the end, he realized there was only one way.

The forbidden sealing jutsu.

He would have to die and doom someone else to hell by sealing Kyuubi inside of them. He ran over a mental list of shinobi but decided that they probably **would** mind having a nine tailed fox demon inside of them. At last, he could only think of one person. He would regret this for life.

He told Gamabunta to stall Kyuubi for a couple of minutes while he went to fetch something.

He poofed back to the hospital in under no time. He raced through the hallways, face soaked with sweat, dirt, and blood back to the room his wife was in. When he got there, she looked deathly pale and weak. He was quickly told that she had a ravaging infection inside her. He told her his plan. She agreed with tears streaming down her face. She kissed him and he held her for a few last moments, then took Naruto with him much to the dismay of the nurses and medic-nin.

The last words he said to her were, 'I love you. Don't forget that my sunshine.'

She thought about them over and over as he stood outside on the battlefield with Naruto in his arms. She thought about it as he formed the final seals of the jutsu, sealing his fate, and Naruto's fate.

His last words to the village was that to make sure that his son was remembered as much of a hero as he was.

As he disappeared off the face of earth, she realized it.

He wasn't yellow. He was never meant to be yellow.

He was always meant to be red. Red like the country he lived to protect and died to protect.

Red like the courage that burned within him.

Red like the love he gave.

Red like the blood he and all other shinobi shed.

Red like fire.

Red like death.

Tears streaked down her face as she was informed that Yondaime had died. She felt herself growing weak also. She looked at her son who had been brought back also. She began to close her eyes for the last time, medic-nin rushed around, her son wailed. She regretted that she couldn't hold on. She took one final look at Naruto and noticed he had fox whiskers. Her eyes traveled downwards toward the mark on his abdomen.

She smiled weakly.

The mark was red.

Red like him.

And she finally understands completely why he chose orange for Naruto. Because orange is made from red and yellow. Because Naruto was made as a result of them. She understands that the circle is complete.

Outside the sun is finally setting. The bright yellow fades into the brilliant orange and red sky.

She has come to an understanding...at a price.

Konoha has come to peace.

At the price of a great hero.

The next day was the day of the funeral of the Fourth and no one dared breathe at the sight outside.

The sky was red with a brilliant yellow sun in the sky.


End file.
